Archangel
by Absolute7
Summary: Twenty four years after third impact a new generation of pilots and their aging predecessors must do battle against an alliance of the remnants of SEELE and an all new group of Angels. Editing by Alice
1. Where we left off

SEELE had nearly succeeded, third impact seemed a success and all human souls had been together in what the organization would have called perfection. Yet the god they had created had bowed to the wishes of Gendo's son! Gendo had always had his own agenda, that in the end had come back to ruin everything they had all worked for.

Keel Lorenz sat in his cell; it was not an uncomfortable cell, just frustrating to remain in. He had been put here after rematerializing on the shores of Japan. According to what little information he was allowed, he was one of the last to return from instrumentality. He would not be killed, that he knew. He would be kept around as long as possible so that he could provide information to whatever organization had replaced Nerv. They hadn't even allowed him their name.

"Lorenz."

The elderly man lifted his head to look for the voice that had softly called his name but could not see anything in the cell with him.

"W-who's there?!" he barely managed to choke the words out.

"It's time."

Lorenz looked around frantically now. The voice had been soft yet had a finality to it: he could not misunderstand it's meaning.

"But I haven't told you everything yet!"

A tinkling laugh filled the room

"And now you never will."

* * *

><p>"Containment Facility 06 is under attack! Unknown lifeform has infiltrated the defenses, scans are detecting blood type blue, I repeat bl... yp... ue..."<p>

Static filled the com as the command center stopped for a moment. Nobody knew how to react.

"Prepare units A and D for launch. I want them at the scene five minutes ago."

The Commander's voice echoed through the near silent room, causing everyone to suddenly burst into action. He put his hands in front of his face with his fingers intertwined, unconsciously mirroring the authority of his father.

* * *

><p>Grace hadn't been flying in quite some time. It was refreshing to feel the wind under her wings and rushing across her face. The monstrous golden body, that she had come to accept as an extension of herself, flew quickly to the location of the attack. There was another flying beside her. This one a gunmetal gray with large cannons attached to it. She would never understand Kensuke's obsession with large guns: the progressive sword was much more effective. She was brought back to reality a moment later as a face appeared on a holographic screen beside her.<p>

"Grace. Your orders are simple. You are to engage the enemy only after allowing Kensuke to determine its defensive capabilities. Disable it quickly. Failure is not an option."

"Understood Commander," She smiled wide, "I'll bring you back a souvenir okay?"

Kensuke chimed in too, "Yeah, I'm not sure you're gonna have to go in at all Grace. I'm gonna blow this thing out of the sky! Isn't that right old timer?"

The Commander let out a sigh "Just follow the orders and everything will go as planned."

The Commander's face disappeared, being replaced by the face of Kensuke, he had a lot of bravado considering he'd never been in anything but simulations before. Grace hadn't fought an Angel either, but she had been tasked with defending CREED from the USC during their religious crusades.

"Hey Grace, we're getting close now. I'm picking up a strong AT field. I'm gonna gain some altitude and see if I can't get the drop on them."

His warmachine flew up higher and readied it's cannons.

"Grace, are you seeing this?" They had entered the area around the holding facility and the buildings were too high to see over. She went up a little higher to get a look and saw what appeared to be an enormous flock of birds surrounding a very large core. The core was just like the videos from the Commander's old fights, blood red and perfectly spherical.

"Kensuke, get down!"

Grace dropped altitude to behind the building when the birds, which were the size of cars and looked like winged jaws, flew at the two giant cyborgs at incredible speed. Kensuke just barely got out of the way before the flock essentially took the tops right off the buildings they now hid behind.

"The buildings won't give me a clear shot from here, I've got to make a run for the main street if I want to even hit this thing."

Kensuke retracted his wings and broke off at a sprint, quickly making his way to the large street. He planted his feet to stop the run and prepared to fire, but just before he got around the corner a group the birdlike creatures blocked him and began flying quickly towards him. Kensuke fired off a few shots of his cannon. It didn't seem like these things had AT fields at all yet somehow they managed to fly right through his and began biting at the armored plates of his EVA.

Grace was running before she knew it. She had prepped the sword and unit A was going full tilt at the flock surrounding Kensuke. Her unit A had long ago been nicknamed Arthur by the repair and regeneration crews. The golden and knightly look of it, coupled with Grace's skill with the sword made it a natural fit. She took a few swings into the flock, thinking she must have cleaved through at least a dozen of the things before they began to withdraw. By the time she had them off of him, Kensuke was a wreck,. Most of his armor had been torn off and he had retreated to the fetal position save for the one leg he had now lost movement in.

"Come on stupid, don't make me drag you home!" She stood up and readied herself for another attack.

"PIlots. Retreat immediately. Units B and C will cover your retreat."

"Yes sir!"

Grace picked up Kensuke in his gigantic war machine and took to the wing, though she couldn't risk going too high with him. Who knew how much more he could take.

* * *

><p>"Tell me what went wrong Hikari."<p>

Hikari looked up at the commander.

"I don't know yet… We didn't pick up any readings of those… Birds or whatever they were."

She scratched her head. Nowhere in the combat footage of other Angels did they show abilities like this. But then again that was to be expected, no two Angels were alike.

"Well I need information soon. I'm not sending pilots against it when we can't even figure that out."

The commander pushed his glasses up in a way that made them shine eerily.

"Did the N2 missiles have any effect?"

"No sir. They were intercepted by the flocks long before arrival."

The chief of operations walked into the command center. He had been consulting with the Magi about using the positron rifle to hit the core from exceedingly long range.

"They say that it could work… But there isn't as much energy available close by as there was in Japan… We would need a lot of set up. They calculate three days worth."

Toji was still pretty new at this job, only getting the promotion two months back. This level of responsibility had him worried to the point of breaking a sweat.

"Thank you Toji. I-"

The commander stopped halfway through his sentence as he watched the screen. Everyone else did the same. It looked as though the Angel was gone. Vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. And with it had gone the entire Containment Facility.


	2. Four faces and four wings

Shinji sat on the couch. It had been a very long day and there had been many long press conferences involved. He kept trying to wrap his head around things. How could the Angels be back? The Dead Sea Scrolls hadn't predicted any more… He let his head fall into his hands. He knew he should be surprised, afraid, angry, but instead he was just confused. He had led military operations for years. He had more experience with Eva than almost anyone else so it had been necessity. When the crusades began he was the one who was in charge of the Eva division of the UN. Yet now here he was, unable to think up plans of attack or defense. How could he be the commander when he was this shellshocked?

The door to the house opened and Asuka walked in. He had been dreading this, she was CREED's liaison to the UN and would end up having to explain all of this. Not to mention what seeing the Angels must have done to her, the last time she had seen one.. Well, it wasn't good to dredge those things up around her.

Shinji stood up and tried to sneak out of the room before she noticed he was there, but he had long ago stopped being short or thin. He was as physically imposing as his father had been, and Asuka saw him immediately.

"Shinji! I'm sure this is your fault somehow! What were you guys messing around with!?"

Shinji flinched at her volume. He had developed a rather strong backbone since his youth, but Asuka still managed to bring out his sheepish and obedient side pretty easily. "N-nothing at all. We haven't touched anything close to what NERV was doing since we finished construction of Unit G…"

He turned to find that what he had (reasonably) mistaken as screams of anger were in fact just her trying to cover up how scared she was. There were tears in her eyes, yet none had fallen, and knowing Asuka they never would. She took a step forward and made like she was about to punch him, but instead she just slumped forward into his arms. "What are we gonna do Shinji… You saw what happened to Kensuke, the poor kid still has a week in medical thanks to that thing." the two of them went and sat on the couch.

"You can't let kids get hurt like that you idiot."

Asuka softly punched him on the arm.

"You remember what it does to them."

Shinji held his glasses in his hands. He didn't really need them, they just gave him a sense of authority that he needed sometimes.

"I know… But would dummy plugs be better? You know the Evas won't function with anyone over seventeen."

He put the glasses in his pocket and leaned back. He had a lot of work ahead of him. Last time he'd fought the Angels he'd been doing it because it was the only way he could get acceptance. But now he had things he had to protect: things like Asuka… He put his hand on her head and started running his fingers through her hair. It was so soft... He wished it could be like this forever. No Angels, no wars, nothing to break them from… Whatever this was. Shinji and Asuka had never really talked about it too much, but they'd been like this for almost twenty years and well, it was good.

"Shinji?"

Asuka's words broke him from the trance he had fallen into.

"I do need something to tell the Security Council tomorrow, we can't just give them nothing."

Shinji closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Tell them that the situation is in fluctuation. But we can confirm that an enemy of unknown origin has revealed itself."

"I don't think you're listening, I said we can't just give them nothing." Asuka said with a wry smile and a peck on the cheek.

"Well," Shinji got up from the couch,

"I'm going to bed. Why don't you wait to write your speech till tomorrow?"

* * *

><p>Kensuke woke up in a bland looking room with a large ceiling light. The room was almost exactly like the recovery rooms in Tokyo-3 that he had seen during tours he gone on of the hospitals. He rolled over in the bed and saw that the nurse was just standing there, staring at him. He thought he might recognize her, but she was probably from before…<p>

"K-kensuke?"

"Yeah… Should I know you?"

He had become accustomed to seeing his old classmates around CREED. It seemed like the connection to the Evas was not something easily severed.

"It's Horiuchi, we were in class together… They never tell us anything around here. I didn't know you'd shown up, much less that you'd become a pilot."

She walked a little further into the room and put down the tray she was carrying.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I don't think I remember you." replied Kensuke, sitting up.

To be honest, he didn't remember a lot of things. Instrumentality had taken some things away, but added even more. For example, an uncomfortably intimate knowledge of brain surgery.

"Oh, that's fine." She moved the tray onto his lap.

"Being a pilot I'm sure you'll be in and out of here pretty often. We'll have the chance to be reaquainted."

The tray had some food on it, and a glass of something. The food here was kind of odd, that was the main downside of relocating to Canada. It was so alien to him. And the food was too fatty. Apparently the move had something to do with a UN treaty that said Canada would supply the materials for Evas as long as they were kept there. Something about peacekeeping he thought.

He and Horiuchi talked for awhile before she had to go to another patient. He was surprised he didn't remember her, she seemed nice enough that he would. But maybe she'd changed since back then. It had been a long time, at least for everyone else.

* * *

><p>Keel Lorenz woke up. It was dark, Pitch black even. He couldn't feel his legs. They were probably gone. He couldn't move his back either so he had to assume his mechanical augmentations were gone. Not good. Without those all he could do was push out a few sentences if he tried really hard.<p>

"Where… Where am I?"

Even something that simple left his throat burning and his tongue sore.

"Does it matter where? All you need to know is that it's safe."

The voice was the same as the one he had heard when he was sure death was approaching, but it had lost it's menace now. It seemed almost playful.

"W-who are y-you?"

He hoped they would take time to answer that one. He was in great need of his headset if they were to talk at any length. His extremely advanced age left him incapable of prolonged conversation without his augments.

"What you would call the Lost Scrolls dubbed us Cherubim. We are the one who rescued you."

Lost Scrolls? Not possible. How could SEELE have overlooked something as significant as missing scrolls? Then again, it was obvious that human error could be all too potent if too much faith was put into prophecies. SEELE had seen a lot, but overlooked too much in an attempt to follow The Scrolls exactly. Wait, this thing… Whatever it was, had rescued him from wherever he had been held. That obviously showed great power. Biblical texts described Cherubim as the angels that guarded the way to the tree of life. Could it be that they had come to punish him for creating it? But that would mean that they were..

"Angels?"

The old man was both terrified and shocked into silence by it's response. It had read his mind and he hadn't felt anything.

"Yes, we are an Angel. Yet not like most others. We are here to ensure that the humans do not interfere in a goal we have. For this we need the help of a human with… Specific skills."

Keel felt as though he was being given a second chance. Maybe instead of a guard to prevent access to the tree of life, Cherubim could be more of a guide. This could be what he had been waiting for. He could be a god alone, but only if he could get Cherubim to accept a single condition.

"You Lilin are interesting. You believe we would have brought you here had we not known your intentions already? Do not underestimate us. Unit 01 will be yours. The soul of Ikari Yui has already been dealt with. All we require is your absolute loyalty. Before you decide, remember 'no' will not be accepted."


	3. The watcher

Grace had been wandering the halls of CREED for hours now. There didn't seem to be anyone else around.

"They must all be busy in the command center itself." she thought to herself.

"Probably preparing for another Angel attack…"

She knew that Toji had taken large portions of the staff to prepare the positron cannon in case an angel came before Eva unit D could be repaired. They weren't gonna send the other units in if the squad was undermanned. Not after what they had seen during the last attack. She kicked hard against a vending machine in the hallway and a small candy bar managed to fall out. She didn't have to do that, she easily had enough on her card to buy several four course meals. She just got in moods like this sometimes.

"You know, damaging CREED property is punishable by jail time."

Grace turned around quickly and saw Kensuke behind her, balanced on a pair of crutches and with bandages around his lower jaw. He was worse off than she had thought. He gave her a big grin that told her he had just been playing with her.

"What's a cripple like you doing in a potential danger area like this?"

Grace kicked the machine again, getting another bar and dropping it into the front pocket of Kensuke's shirt.

"Just felt useless in the hospital, and at least now I have time off to look at all the awesome military tech they keep around here."

Grace shook her head, she would never understand Kensuke and his obsession with this sort of stuff. To her the tech not pertaining to the Evas was just obsolete.

"How's everything going around here anyways?"

It was a bit of a rhetorical question. The quiet could only mean that everyone was hard at work. If you knew the jokers they had around here, quite meant that things were seriously bad. They hadn't been ready for the Angels. There had even been thought of proposing a ban on Evas to the UN in the next few years. They were just too dangerous...

"Oh you know, nothing but peace and quiet."

Kensuke started hobbling off in the direction of the vehicle bay, but he stopped after only a few feet and turned around

"Tell Toji I said hi, okay? He hasn't wanted to see me too much recently."

Grace only nodded at him as he turned the corner. It must be hard on Kensuke, Toji had been his best friend, and now he was old enough to be his dad. She leaned against the wall and ate the candy she had 'stolen'. Nothing to do now but wait for the call. She had a feeling that something was gonna happen today.

* * *

><p>Asuka sat back down in her seat at the security council table. Only the Canadian Prime Minister had actually been able to make it physically on such short notice. The other members were represented by holographic images.<p>

"Thank you Miss Soryu. We will take your organization's statements into account when we create our plan of action. You may leave for now. We will call you if you are needed again." Finished the British Prime Minister.

Asuka didn't hate the British Prime Minister, she just wished he'd take CREED a little more seriously. She had a sneaking suspicion that he thought they were just trying to emulate SEELE. Nonetheless, she bowed and left the room. She had a car waiting for her outside, but she decided to stay around for awhile in case those idiots needed some more clarification. She sat in the main lobby of the CREED building in Ottawa. It was a nice little thing. Not as large as the main headquarters, but then again it didn't have any Eva to store. It was mostly used for political purposes, being the face of CREED in the public eye.

"Hey!"

Asuka knew the cry was for her before she even looked up. The voice was older now, but no less identifiable. She drew herself up to prepare for what was to come next. The now former Commander grabbed her around the middle and held tightly. She'd missed her hugs.

"Asuka, why didn't you tell me you were gonna be in town? I would have put aside time if you'd said!"

Misato had left CREED just a short time ago. She'd decided after all those years that she couldn't command an Eva to go into battle against a human with a clear consciousness. So she had joined the UN branch, dealing with those who came back from instrumentality. She was in charge of making sure that the area wasn't attacked by any sort of religious she was missed, everyone agreed that Shinji had made up for her absence.

"I'm sorry Misato, I would have if I'd anticipated being kicked out of my own meeting while they bicker about some irrelevant political crap."

Misato laughed a little at that. Asuka had changed a bit, but she knew her temper was still there. She guessed Misato had changed more. Her hair was mostly gray now, and her once coveted sex appeal had been mostly lost to wrinkles. The thought made her sigh, Misato was fifty four now, and Asuka couldn't say that the years had been good to her.

"Well, why don't we go and get some coffee if you're not busy?"

* * *

><p>Metatron walked through the streets of Moscow. He had a very different drive than other Angels: while they wanted to destroy mindlessly or were drawn to Adam, he just wanted to observe. He had fashioned himself a human body with which to do this. It was believable so long as nobody saw his eyes. He had far too many of those.<p>

"Hey, watch out asshole!"

He filed those words away, as well as the context of their usage and the emotions which brought them out. He supposed he hadn't been paying attention and had bumped into the guy, but he didn't really care. He had a purpose. Today he was going to observe something important.

* * *

><p>Keel Lorenz sat in a chair with a phone in front of him. He had just gotten off the phone with the remaining members of SEELE. There were things which needed to be done, and he only had so many loyal followers left.<p>

"If you'd only come to me sooner maybe I wouldn't have sold out so many of them yet."

He spoke to the Angel. Though Cherubim was not physically present, he was sure that it had heard him. The motives of his illusive ally had still not been made clear. The Angel wanted Keel to bring SEELE back from the dead so that they could begin orchestrating things from behind the scenes again. Those were the only 'orders' the Angel had passed down, and Keel hated having to follow them. Not because he disagreed with them, but because he was not a man who had ever had to follow another's commands. He had come from old money and it had made power easy to come by. But that was gone now, he had to bide his time and try to ensure the Angel came through with it's end of the bargain and provided unit 01. He would have to ask Cherubim how it had come by the Eva... He was under the impression it was floating somewhere in space.

There was someone else in the building. Now that Keel had his implants back, or at least something very similar, he was picking up on small sounds and disturbances much easier than most humans could. There was a thin man standing in a corner of the room. He must have been incredibly skilled to have evaded Keel for this long. The man wore a light brown hoodie covering the top half of his face and a pair of dark grey cargo pants. There was something odd about him, but Keel couldn't place it.

"Who are you?" The old man stood up from his chair.

"Be not afraid Keel Lorenz. I am not your enemy."

Taken aback for a moment that this man knew his name, Keel was quick to remind himself that he was known by most of the world as a genocidal maniac.

"If you aren't my enemy then what are you doing here?"

"I have come to impart knowledge unto you. The next Angel will appear soon, and I would hate for you to miss the spectacle."

* * *

><p>"Sir, we've got a definite appearance north east of our position."<p>

"It's been confirmed blood type blue!"

"All scans conclusive, it's an Angel."

"Sir, the target is now moving quickly over land towards CREED!"

The Commander (he was never Shinji at work) sat down and looked over the numerous monitors positioned around the room

"Time until arrival?"

"Ten minutes Sir."

Enough time to launch the Evas, but he'd rather not if it could be avoided.

"Is the positron cannon ready?"

"Three minutes until the weapon is primed Sir."

Good. No need to send the Evas. Kensuke was still in no shape to pilot in a mobile operation, and there was no way he was going to send the Evas as anything other than a last resort.

"I want Units A and B ready and waiting. But do not launch without my direct orders. You have the floor Chief."

Toji stepped in and started barking preparation orders to the staff. They had just enough time to prepare themselves for this attack. They wouldn't let any civilians get hurt, the casualties had been far too high last time. It was just dumb luck that most people had been at some sort of festival on the other side of the city from where the Angel attacked.

"Cannon ready, firing!"

Toji pressed the big red button he'd installed into his desk. It was little more than a secondary enter key to press after inputting the command. But it seemed to give him some sort of satisfaction.

The Angel was on screen now. It was a large quadrupedal thing almost like a dog without a head. It also had a pair of arms coming up from either side of it resulting in a total of eight limbs. The closest thing to a face the Commander could make out were eyes on the palm of each hand.

"Impact!"


	4. Aceldama

"Confirmed hit!"

Hikari stood up from her station to get a better look on the large central screen of the bridge, yet just ended up sitting down in shock seconds later. The positron cannon had hit. She couldn't see a scratch on the Angel. She looked down at the screen in front of her and saw that scans of the Angel showed minimal damage. It looked as though the energy from the cannon had been absorbed into the Angel. Almost as though it had eaten it.

She reported this to the Commander.

"Irrelevant." He didn't seem too surprised.

Maybe he had expected the operation not to go according to plan. He had the look of his father right now. She'd never met Gendo personally, but she'd heard enough about him from Maya during her training that she knew that this intense and brooding look the Commander had right now was inherited from his father.

"Launch units A through C. They are to stop it's progress and then engage at long range with ballistic weaponry. Cut all power between the Angel and us. If it ate the blast from the cannon we can't let it consume too much more. We don't know what would happen yet."

* * *

><p>Grace settled into the entry plug. All reports confirmed the Angel to be much faster than an Eva. They said that over flat stretches of ground it could reach speeds nearing the sound barrier. The plan was for units B and C to cut it's legs while it ran by, and for A to stand by to finish it off. They would only get one shot at this, so they had to be in place as soon as possible. Luckily it seemed the cannon had stopped it for a few minutes.<p>

"Kerstin, you ready for this?" Grace asked the pilot of unit B.

"Do I have a choice?"

Kerstin's Eva was a deep orange with touches of green on it's ram-like horns. She usually used an axe very similar in design to Grace's own sword, so an operation with precision timing in close quarters was right up her alley. The pilot of unit C was another story. He had more experience with small (relatively speaking) firearms. Whereas Kensuke used his massive cannons. Conrad used a pair of handguns so he could move faster. It wasn't that he was bad with a melee weapon, just not as good as the girls.

"I doubt you'll be the one having trouble."

The countdown began for launch and they were in the air quickly, soaring to their location. This was her favorite part of any mission. The wind was wonderful against the gigantic cyborg's wings.

"So Grace, what do you think the chances are of us actually pulling this off?"

Conrad could be so cynical it was nauseating sometimes.

"Excellent. So long as you can swing that sword right."

"Haha very funny. Just wait till we fight an Angel that can vaporize you if you get too close. Then we'll see who gets to-"

Conrad was cut short as a beam of energy sliced through his Evas wing and he went tumbling downwards.

* * *

><p>"What happened out there?"<p>

The Commander was looking at the image of the Eva partially broken on the ground. The others had landed immediately and helped Conrad to his feet. The only thing that appeared to be wrong was that he was now entirely unable to move the arms of his Eva, which he'd used to break his fall.

"It seems like the Angel fired an energy beam from one of it's eyes and took the wing right off unit C, Sir."

"And the armed forces?"

"Have had no effect. Not even to slow it down. Units A and B are going to have to dispose of the Angel alone. I can't locate any resources that would be of use nearby."

Toji looked up worriedly at the Commander and then back at the screen.

"How much of Unit D is currently operational?"

The Commander thought Toji might have thought of a plan. Although, it required a lot of reliance on Kensuke's skills.

"Grace and Kerstin. You are to attempt to stop the Angel as previously planned."

He looked at Toji.

"How long until unit D can launch?"

* * *

><p>Kensuke was standing as well as he could just outside of CREED. They had given him what was possibly the single largest ballistic device he'd ever seen. It was nearly the size of his Eva's torso, and he could tell by looking at it that it must pack one hell of a punch. He'd have to make a model of it for the miniatures he'd been working on once he was finished with it. The thing was just too cool to ignore.<p>

"Kensuke, you should have the shot in just a few seconds. The railgun we've given you should punch straight through that thing so long as it's AT field is down. But don't worry about that. Units A and B have got your back."

Hikari meant to sound reassuring, but it just made Kensuke more nervous that they felt the need to say things like that to him.

"Okay, weapon ready." Kensuke thought to himself as he waited for a target…

There it was! It looked as though it had started a leap before the other Evas took off both of it's front legs, causing it to flip end over end over the hill it had been attempting to jump before coming to rest. He thought that the AT field must be down for it to have lost it's legs. He didn't hesitate to open fire. The gun seemed to have some sort of electrical energy swirl around it for a moment before the rod that had been loaded inside launched forward at an incredible speed. It ripped straight through the angel and caused a massive eruption of earth and stone from behind it where the projectile impacted. The Angel lay still for a moment before deep red blood began to pour from it's wound and onto the ground. At that moment Kensuke didn't need to have his communication channel open to know that everyone at Command was cheering right now.

* * *

><p>Keel Lorenz had been making calls and writing letters all day. Whatever Cherubim was planning, it was big. They had nearly made contact with every member of SEELE still unknown to the UN. It was a good thing that a lot of the membership was kept secret. Otherwise they might not have anyone to contact in the first place.<p>

"Camael attacked recklessley. We are forced to accelerate our plans. We have another task for you." The words went straight into Keel's mind. He had started getting used to Cherubim's psychic communication.

"And what would that be?" Keel had now mastered responding with proper thoughts instead of speaking aloud.

"You must create a new vessel. Just like the bodies used to house the Seeds of Life. We require a figurehead who is not a member of SEELE if we are to sway public opinion towards our goals."

Keel was confused, why did the Angel need the public on it's side?

"You will know in time."

He may have been used to the Angel looking through his thoughts, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

* * *

><p>The hands were larger than those the boy remembered. No, he was a man now. Then the man remembered. So was everything else. His AT field was weak. Little more than human. The man walked slowly towards what resembled a soldier standing a few feet away.<p>

"Hello and welcome back to reality. We have a change of clothes waiting for you and arrangements to transport you wherever you had been before Third Impact." The soldier seemed entirely too bored by his job. But that was to be expected.

"I need to speak to Shinji Ikari."

The voice was deeper than he remembered it. That was good. It meant he spoke with more authority.

"I'm gonna need to ask my superior officer about that. What's your name?"

* * *

><p>Misato rushed off of the jet that had taken her back to Japan. There was an urgent call from the beach where people emerged from instrumentality. She hadn't believed it until she saw it with her own eyes. This had to be swept very deep under the rug. Shinji could not learn about this.<p>

* * *

><p>The conglomeration of souls that was instrumentality watched the world unfold around it. It thought many things about the events that transpired outside. Sometimes, the souls within it had such strong feelings that they were released back into the world until they inevitably died and returned. This was the outcome of a single soul's desire. A simple desire to give all those who had had instrumentality thrust upon them a choice. And it had been granted. The reason for this was that the two most powerful souls of all resided within. These two souls were of Adam and Lilith, or Kaworu and Rei depending on who was discussing them. These two souls both felt, what would commonly be called, love for the one they knew as Shinji Ikari. It was this love that had led them to overrule the weaker souls around them and grant his wish. It changed nothing in the grand scheme of things. Eventually all souls would return to instrumentality, then humanity would truly be united as a singular god. Yet something was wrong. Through observation of their world it had been found that there were forces originating from the white moon of a different world. Their motives were unclear, but it was obvious that they meant to interfere with instrumentality. This could not be allowed. A single soul leaves instrumentality. It must put a stop to the plans of the new Angels. Children of another Adam could not be allowed to trespass on this planet.<p>

* * *

><p>Misato walked briskly into the holding cell. It had a single bench against the far wall and was cut off from the rest of the world by a bullet proof glass wall and heavy steel bars. Still Misato didn't feel protected. He was just sitting there. He looked the same as he had before, except now his age was hard to tell just by looking at him. He seemed almost ageless, neither old nor young. She took a step forward and he raised his head to look at her. Grey hair falling out of his face to reveal red eyes.<p>

"Hello Misato. I'm very pleased to see you again."

It was impossible to find the words to reply to him, all she could manage was his name through clenched teeth.

"Kaworu."


	5. King in our midst

Just a bit of an authors note.

I went back and fixed a few things in the previous chapters, but if you note any continuity errors from the show just PM me and I'll totally get right on fixing it.

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><p>"Hikari! I can't find the remote!"<p>

Hikari let out a sigh at her incompetent husband's call. She knew that if he had actually bothered to look he would have found it sitting right beside him. But that's just the way he was. She had been married to Toji for twenty years now. Most would say eighteen was too young to be married, but the two of them had gone into a dangerous profession, so they had decided to spend as much of their time as possible together. They had a son named Takeshi. Hikari returned to her work fervently. She had some simulations to run and she wanted to finish them so she could get to work on dinner. Her husband could wait for a few minutes.

The doorbell rang and Hikari could hear a pair of teenagers enter the house. She finished up her work quickly and went into the living room to find that Toji had found the remote on his own and was now watching hockey with Takeshi and a very awkward looking boy with curly, gold hair and bright blue eyes. Takeshi jumped up to introduce the boy.

"Mom, this is Sam. He's from my drama class!"

Sam hunkered down into his seat almost like he was trying to avoid being seen. He must have been intimidated by her and Toji. They were part of the group controlling the Evas after all. She remembered when Misato used to visit their school, Toji and Kensuke would, without fail, manage to unconsciously drool any time she was around. She wasn't like Misato in that way, none of Takeshi's friends fawned over her… Not that she wanted that kind of attention. She pulled her train of thought back to the present.

"If you two want you can play some games in the computer room. I'm done with work for today."

Hikari always made sure to limit Takeshi's computer access so he had to interact with other kids. Unlike his dad, he was not a naturally social person.

"Thanks mom!"

Takeshi grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled him into the other room to play some game or other. Hikari sat down next to Toji and noticed that somehow he had managed to remain upright, and, without making any noise, fall fast asleep. She let out a sigh. Toji never took care of himself properly. He always worked too late or got up too early. She wished it could be easier for him to manage his time, but then again he'd probably nap anyways. He had been a jock in school, but he had still managed to be something of a slacker.

Hikari stood up after a moment and walked over to the kitchen. She put some rice on and mixed up a quick stir-fry to put overtop of it. She was glad things were quiet today. She liked just being at home. Science was her profession, but it was caring for her family that kept her going.

* * *

><p>Asuka had finally gotten back to CREED. It had been a long drive, and she didn't like to be away from home for too long. It was unfortunate that her job made her time back short at best. She had considered moving once or twice, but that would mean leaving Shinji… She made her way down the street to the housing complex where her and Shinji had their condo. It was a nice little town that they had here. It wasn't as indestructible as Tokyo-3 had been; none of the buildings dropped into the ground and there weren't as many places the Evas could come up from in the event of an attack.<p>

The redhead's mind wandered back to her conversation with Misato a few days prior. The older woman had made an effort not to talk about the Angels, but Asuka had still known she was worried sick for her and Shinji, After all, she had lived with her for nearly seven years before she and Shinji had gotten their own place.

"I'm home!" Asuka called out as she entered their home and took off her shoes. It looked like Shinji wasn't home yet, so she went and stripped out of her uncomfortable outfit to have a bath. She wasn't too fond of suits, but they were in the job description. Asuka would never have imagined herself in politics. She had always been too hotheaded for it. Yet now here she was. She felt as though she had mellowed out a lot after third impact. She had vague memories of what instrumentality had been like, but she had only been in it for a brief time.

As Asuka soaked in the water she wished Shinji would get home and cook already… He hadn't been doing it as much recently with things being what they were. He'd seemed distant. Asuka thought that despite what he said Shinji might miss piloting Eva; she knew that she missed the feeling of godlike power sometimes… And her mom. She missed being close to her most of all. She hadn't known that her Eva was her mother's soul at first. But after learning the truth she had realized that she'd always felt something, a kind of connection that was more than just girl to giant cyborg.

* * *

><p>Grace on the shoulder of her Eva, her head back against one of the armor plates on it's neck. It was strange to her to think that her mother was in there somewhere. Her mother had always been a soldier, right up until the end. She had some terminal disease that had left her paralyzed, so when CREED came forward looking for volunteers she had been first in line.<p>

"Stupid mom." Grace said before beating her hand on the Eva. Her and her mother had never been the best of friends, becoming a cyborg didn't change that. She could feel her mother's thoughts in the Eva sometimes. All Grace ever tried to do was impress her. That was why she had spent hours and hours taking lessons so she could use that sword, why she had agreed to become a pilot in the first place. All she wanted was for her mom to be impressed by her… Apparently her drive to impress her mother was what gave her such good synch scores. Maybe her mom wanted the same thing.

Grace stood up and climbed onto the platform connected to the Eva's shoulder. She had seen that the old units had shoulder pylons. She was glad that the units built from the wreckage of the MP Evas got wings instead. Way cooler. And the S2 engines were a nice touch as well. She started walking back to her room in the CREED complex when she saw someone standing by the door near the opposite shoulder. He was rather tall, standing at maybe 6'1", yet he was very thin. His hair was a pale brown, or was it grey? Wait, she'd seen pictures of him before. How could he be here? He looked at her, his eyes red like fire. Then, just like that, he was gone. She'd blinked and he was gone.

* * *

><p>An egg lay just beneath the surface of Ceres. It had been kept there since long before the moons fell to earth. The creature within the egg felt feet land on the surface of it's home and large claws begin to dig into the crust and rip away the rock that hid It away from the world. It had always known it would be called upon. Even the best laid plans often require intervention for them to reach fruition.<p>

* * *

><p>The blood just kept pouring from Metatron's mouth. The pain was unbearable, he could hardly keep conscious as his dying body fell apart and began melting. Luckily, he had managed to get back to the abandoned apartment he had been staying in. He felt the body finally let go and fall off of him in bloody chunks. It took only a few seconds for it to shrivel up and begin melting into LCL, before then evaporate into the air.<p>

Without his human form to hold him back Metatron returned to his original form. He was much smaller than most angels, even smaller than a human. He appeared skeletally thin and stood no more than four feet tall. Eyes covered most of his body and he had a very long barbed tail.

"New form required. Today's sightings provide thirteen adequate candidates for consumption." Metatron whispered under his breath as his mouth began salivating at the thought of the information inside a human mind.

* * *

><p>"I doubt you'll be able to keep me a secret forever. Once Shinji learns that I'm here he'll come looking."<p>

Kaworu watched Misato leave the room in a huff. She had been trying to get information out of him all day, but he'd made sure not to say anything relevant. He looked at the guards outside of the cell. There were two of them, both tall and looking incredibly generic in their combat armor.

"So. Which one of you has a family?"

Neither guard said anything, but he could see the one on the left had narrowed his eyes.

"I see. Well, tell them that I'm sorry everything didn't go as planned. I-"

Kaworu was cut off when the other guard pressed the button on the side of the cage that shocked Kaworu. It was… bearable. Yet only through gritted teeth and clenched fists could he keep from crying out. Pain was rather new to him, at least the physical variety.

"Well… It seems we're going to be here awhile… Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourselve-"

Again with the shocking! Kaworu was really wishing he could project his AT field right now. He closed his eyes and began the exercises he had been doing to try and control his AT field. Suddenly his eyes flew open and he was standing in an Eva cage looking up at a golden Eva with something almost like a medieval knight's helmet on it's head. A girl in a yellow plugsuit was walking along the catwalk in front of the Eva. He turned towards her and saw her eyes widen in surprise as he felt his perception change again. This time he was standing on a very cold piece of rock. It took him a moment before he saw an enormous humanoid figure digging it's massive claws into the stone, pulling it apart and carving a huge crater into the ground. After a moment it pulled a large egg out of the hole. Kaworu could see that it was an Angel's egg… Yet it didn't quite look like any he had seen before.

"Other Adam. You should not be in my eyes. This is an unprecedented incident. I will acquire you for future study."

Kaworu turned around and saw he was in a room with what appeared to be a small chinese girl wearing a hoodie looking at him.

"Your apparition was following my gaze. I must assume that you have no control over the ability. Yet it matters not. I will take you. You need not wait long."

And just like that Kaworu was sitting in his cell again.

* * *

><p>Sammael was the name of the beast in the egg. The one that had freed it was Machiel. It was Machiel's ability to know the secrets of the Ancestors. He had known that Sammael was hidden here on the planet Earth's Lilim called Ceres. The Ancestors called it the Forge. It was where the Fruits of Life and Knowledge for this part of the galaxy had been made. It was where Sammael had been stored to protect the balance the Ancestors had created. Sammael was no child of Adam. He was a creature of the Ancestors. An eater of souls; and his hunger was overwhelming. Machiel watched as the winged and snakelike creature quickly grew from the embryo. It was much larger than the Angel. Machiel spread its wings and extended its AT field. Taking off, it began the long trip back to earth, Sammael following behind it.<p> 


End file.
